If you're a veteran of high cost prescription medication, you've probably found the dark and seedy discount card corners of the internet.
Being a licensed health insurance agent, I often looked down on those discount cards from my health insurance high horse. They all had the feeling of a late night infomercial that I wanted nothing to do with.
Before Obamacare took over in 2014, I was constantly answering questions from people looking for hope in a hopeless situation. They were uninsurable by the current standards of health insurance underwriting.
The best options they had were to rely on the misleading promises of guarantee issue indemnity plans and piece together discount cards for different services.
A hodgepodge of healthcare.
What Changed My Mind?
A lot has happened during the first three years of Obamacare. Sure, there are no more hopeless cases of uninsurability. But, as a result, plans have changed and prices have gone up (not including tax credit subsidies).
There's a good chance you've had to make a substantial compromise with your health insurance plan over the last few years, if you have one at all.
One of those compromises might have been to go without copays for your prescription medication.
Facing Reality
Seeing you struggle, stress and come close to tears dealing with the reality of your situation, I had to climb down from my high horse and help.
I couldn't ignore and turn my nose up at these discount programs anymore.
Any little bit that could help, needed to.
I just had to find a legitimate option and sift through the empty promises and false hope.
The New Benefits Drug Card
That's when I found this free discount card offered by New Benefits. It's accepted at over 60,000 pharmacies across the country, including Walmart, CVS, Walgreen's, Target and Giant Eagle. The saving can range from 10 to 85 percent on most medications.
You can check the prices of your own medications, but I wanted to give you a quick example.
A 20 MG, 30 day supply of Lipitor cost $385.78 at Walmart if you were paying the cash price. Using the free New Benefits discount card that price drops to $350.99.
It gets even more interesting when you compare the cost of Lipitor's generic alternative, Atorvastatin. Its cash price is $30.96, but with the discount card you would only pay $6.89 at Walmart.
That means, if we do some simple math, if you need the Lipitor brand name, you would save $34.79 a month or $417.48 a year (you basically get more than one month free). The generic would save you $24.07 a month or $208.84 a year (or nine and half months free).
The crazy part, that is a straight net profit into your pocket because the card is free.
How Can the Discount Card be Free?
That's a great question.
The only thing you need to do to get it is fill out your name and email, basically so they can send you the card right away to print off and start saving.
But, any good business knows they need to find a way to get you in the door. What better way to do that than by giving you a deal on something you're guaranteed to need every month, your medicine.
I'm not sure on the official percentage, I bet Walmart is though, but when you pickup your prescription you're probably going to also buy a roll of paper towels maybe a case of bottled water and you'll probably even get suckered into at least a $5 toy for each of your kids.
These stores are betting on the fact that when you walk through their doors you are going to walk out of them with more than just your medication.
The Bottom Line
If we're being honest, it's a free card that only costs you your email address (that's how they send it to you). Not trying it is really the biggest risk you run.
We were even able to work out a deal with New Benefits to offer a paid version of their discount card that also includes 24/7 access to telehealth doctors, health advocates, dental and vision discounts and more.
If you want to stick with just the pharmacy card, that's free.
Next Step
Go grab the RX discount card and see how much money it saves you on your medications.
